By Chris Parker
Purdy girls basketball will be young with no seniors on the roster, but the Lady Eagles have good numbers out with 16 on the roster.
Sophomores Jesse Hoppes and Hadley Hughes are the only two returning with varsity experience from last season’s 8-14 team.
“Jesse Hoppes will bring speed, and she will play one of the guard positions. She will be the penetrator and she will attack the basket. She was an all-state centerfielder and has a motor,” Purdy head coach Brandon Moore said. “Hadley Hughes is a post player who has explosion and power at the post position. She is a very good rebounder and doesn’t realize what her ceiling is. She can jump and is very strong and is working very hard to refine her shot around the basket and create touch rather than just power.”
Two junior transfers in Kavery Postlewait and Julia Crouthamel will have an immediate impact.
Postlewait transferred from Cassville.
“She is going to bring a lot of things to this team starting with experience maybe not at the varsity level, but the girls look up to her because she is older,” Moore said. “She is one of our starting post players, and is a post that will bang bodies and be physical with her back to the basket. She is our scoring option at the post while Hadley will be are rebounder.”
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Crouthamel is a transfer from Blue Eye.
“She is another player who has not been here, but the girls look up to her because she has experience and she knows what she is doing on the court,” Moore said. “She will be are first guard off the bench right now, and I expect that will change as the season goes and some time has passed.”
Rosa Schad and Serenity Morris are two freshmen who will see immediate varsity action.
“Our guard system is all interchangeable, but our primary ball handler is Rosa. She is very tough, and very basketball savvy and does a good job of setting the table without having to score,” Moore said. “Serenity is very quick and is fast. She needs to be able to trust her speed, but she can shoot and has no fear to shoot the ball. As a freshmen, that is hard to find. When she gets better on defense she will be more of the all-around player that I think she is capable of.”
Purdy will be a deep team this year playing up to 10 players each night.
“I want to play 8-10 girls every night,” Moore said. “That means we need to be aggressive and get after it whenever we are on the court and not worry about foul trouble. Our identity will be an aggressive, pressing team who will come at you and be physical. We have great athletes we need to match that with intensity.”
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Purdy opens the season on Nov. 20 at the Verona Tournament.
“I want to make sure we win the games we should, upset a few, and compete as best as we can every game,” Moore said. “I want this to be a successful season, and a season that will allow us to step into next year easily.”
